Is The Moon Next Goal For Space Billionaires?
Momentous July Days For Private Space Travel Forthcoming, As Virgin Galactic And Blue Origin Founders Richard Branson And Jeff Bezos Plan To Personally Launch To Space 11 July And 20 July, Respectively, Raising Question Of Next Horizons: While Elon Musk Of SpaceX Has Focused On Mars Habitation, Bezos Plans Massive Rotating Artificial Structures In The Vein Of Gerard O’Neill, Branson Intent On Terrestrial Point-To-Point Space Travel, Establishment Of Human Settlement On Earth’s Moon Is Increasingly Recognized As “Critical Next Step” In Transformation To Multi-World Species Status; SpaceX Only Company To Declare Private Crewed Lunar Mission, 2023 ‘DearMoon’ Financed By Japan Fashion Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
General Director Dmitry Rogozin Indicates Roscosmos Space Agency In Talks With French Space Agency CNES To Renovate Guiana Space Centre In Support Of “Large Lunar Project” And “Launching [To] Chinese Station”; 41.5° Orbital Inclination Of Tiangong vs 51.6° Of ISS Makes Russia Spaceports At Baikonur (46°N) And Vostochny (52°N) Unappealing, As Additional Maneuvering Would Cost Precious ∆v; Launches From GSC At 5.2°N Would Be Appropriate Also For Lunar Missions; Irtysh / Soyuz-5 Rocket In Development To Power Oryol (Eagle) Deep Space Crew Vessel With 4-6 Cosmonaut Capacity
Luna 25 Launch Set For 1 October, Marking Resumption Of Lunar Exploration Activities After 45+ Year Hiatus For Russia, First Nation To Robotically Explore Moon; Luna 25 To Attempt Landing At Boguslavsky Crater Near Moon South Pole (72.9°S, 43.2°E) To Investigate Subsurface Ice Deposits; Luna 26 (2024), Lunar 27 (2025), Luna 28 (2027) To Culminate With International Lunar Research Station Buildout With China & Human Lunar Missions By Decade End; Nuclear-Powered Zeus To Launch From Moon Orbit 2030, Exploit Venus Gravity-Assist On Jupiter Trajectory During 50-Month, US$58M Mission
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson In Talks With Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin On Future Of ISS Partnership As USA And Russia Presidents Biden And Putin Prepare For Geneva Summit 16 June; Nelson Predicts Space Travel “On Agenda”, Characterizes Biden As “A Fan Of Space”; Concurrently, Roscosmos And CNSA To Co-Host Meeting On International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) At Global Space Exploration Conference 2021 In St. Petersburg, During Which Potential International Partners Expected To Respond To Participation Invites; ISRO, ESA Have Yet To Commit To 11 Nation-Strong Artemis Coalition Or ILRS, Raising Possibility Of Dual Membership
University Of Reading (UK) Study Applies Statistical Analysis To 150 Years Of Solar Weather Data; Findings Suggest Extreme Coronal Mass Ejections, Deleterious To Human Health And Technology, May Be More Probable In Later Half Of Odd-Numbered 11-Year Solar Cycles (With Opposite Trend During Even), Possibly Due To Concurrent Solar Geomagnetic Reversals; Cycle 25 Runs From Approximately 2019-30, Artemis Human Moon Missions In Possible Jeopardy 2026-30 Unless Nominal Surface Exposure Radiation Levels Of 60 
